The evening world., 1887-12-28

Her power, her influence. were demon
strated at the funeral, for the cortege might
have been taken for that of Queen or EN-
press O hearse, buried under flowers, sur
rounded by seventy employees of the Dor
March6, followed by sixty-six directors,
bearing wreaths and crosses; then 5000
clerks; the carriage Of Mime. Boucicaut, cov-
cred with Grape; mourning and private con-
veyances, and last. two hundred p~orters, in
livery.
Marguerite Guerin was the daughter of q
w~asherwoman, could neither read nor write,
and when, at the age Of twenty-eight-
about forty Ave years ago-she came to Paris,
by chance, she obtained q position in a little
dry-goods shop Of the Rue du BAG. There
she met Aristide Boucicaut, of q better family
than hers, but like herself employed In meas
uring cloth and ribbon. After o short court
ship they were married, and from that time n
certain number of hours each evening were
devoted to study. Soon the two were able
to buy the shop in which they had been
clerks, and 1t was the delight OF, Nine.
Boucicaut to arrange goods in the win
dows and by the door of the dingy little
mdgasin. Both husband and wife were ex,
ceeding honest, and both were devoted
friends of the poor. AT the time they estab-
lished themselves in business there was
great distress in Paris. and every Saturday
evening, for the benefit of the poor, they
sold goods at cost. Such benevolence, could
not lose It's reward, and soon they bought
the building next to theirs, then another, an
! other, and still another, until they owned a
whole square. On. the site of these build
ings stands to-day, the palace of the
Bon Marche, a shop, uniting the qualities
of the millinery emporium, the hosier'ss, the
silk merchants, the haberdasher's, the linen
draper's, q carpet and curtain warehouse
%S; II 5.v. the Been M saiisa A AEFond ths ss oh p
"Stablimento di Galanterie, p" and its owners
Merchant Princess like the Fuggers of
Antwerp and the Medicio of Florence. The
immense "Gostinnoi-D yors" of Russia and
resemble the Bon Marche, but these
bazaars belong to numerous proprietors.
and the Bon Marche Is the property of
one firm.
trance to the Bon Marche is in the Rue du
BAG, O street whose history Is interesting and
instructive. The name is derived from q bdc
or ferry, made in 1850, OF the river end OF the
to Louis XIII. When a bridge was built
across from the Tuileries the fortune of the
street was assured, for until then the Rue du
BAG. approached only by ferry-boat, was a
to have always had q very religious charac-
ter. for early in the seventeenth century
were founded many foreign mission
houses, and here to-day in the house once
occupied by Louise de La Valliere. are the
Sisters of Charity, a religious body, popular
even with irreligious modern France. Until
| the Revolution there were monasteries, con-
| vents, hospitals, &C., but afterwards the gar
| dens seized as national property became
| building lots and the Rue du BAG was trans
formed into a fashionable street. Here lived
Chateaubriand, Montalembert, Nine. de
Stael, &c.
NJ. and Nine. Boucicaut could not have
| chosen o more appropriate quarter for the
construction Of magdsins 50 vast that more
than $500, 900 are spent each year in adyer-
tisements. AS the proprietors themselves
had been clerks, they wished TO- make of
their own employees responsible individuals,
interested in the prosperity OF the house:
Recognizing the fact that there must OF
necessity be two Glasses, those who will &C
cumulate fortunes, and those who will! al
ways need assistance, for the first Mime.
Boucicaut formed al association which
is an honor, and source of
fortune, and for the second a
society Of Prevoyance, to. which she gave
81, 500, 900, So the Bon Marche soon be-
came a Republic. with q Chamber of Deputies
and Cabinet. Three thousand two hundred
and thirty employees are governed by 800 CO.
proprietors, and these by a council chosen
by themselves. At first there, were ninety
SIX co-proprietors or shareholders, with
shares amounting to 50, 900 900; to-day their
number is 800.
In 1885 Nine. Boucicaut gave 81, 900, 900 to